Some recent chat here, and a surplus of yellow squash, has me again interested in buying my first dehydrator. I know Nesco is very popular. The local WM has this which sounds very similar in design
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pre...

so with it raining all day I may end up going in WM for probably only the second time since March 2020 to buy one and get started.

Successes, fails? Any brand comments.
Your thoughts welcome.

Voy, sure need to shop around. Even the Presto company site has two different entries for the basic 06300 dehydrator with 2 different prices.I think no one cleans up the company website to make sure it's all current and correct.
Top mounted fan a must, it seems.
Add-on trays really gouge you.

I'm on my second batch of yellow sqaush. I did not blanch, and they are taking a long time. This batch I sliced thinner, like 1/8, the first was 1/4.

Dunno about that Presto one, Sally - I bought my Nesco on Ebay quite a few years ago, the fan is in the base so not sure about the top fan being a must?

If I were to buy a different dehydrator, which is not likely because the one I have pretty much does what I need, the only change I would make would be to get one where you could remove a tray to have more "head room" in between the trays.

I think this one is pretty close to what I have
https://www.kohls.com/product/...

I'm sure that's a nice one, Sandy.
'Somebody' said top fan is good so nothing can ever drip on the 'works'.
This has only one temp which is 165. So maybe that's not ideal, some instructions give different temps for different things.

Without looking I'm not sure about this, but I think 165° might be the maximum (or close to it) temp setting on mine - and I've never used that high a setting.

I think it is only called for with meat.. but it would speed things up I guess.
I'm about to sink 45 dollars into an OXO mandoline to more quickly "save money' by drying my own produce

It's turning into $100 hamburgers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

That's more than I paid for my dehydrator. I like it but just has one temperature. I'm drying some sliced zucchini now and just had an idea. I wonder how spiralized zucchini would work dried. Maybe used in pasta. I have a spiralizer but no mandoline.

I have two dehydrators. One similar to the above but no fan and one temp setting. Well actually two if I count the off. It was garage sale cheap.

I decided I needed a bigger one with removable trays, fan, temperature settings so I bought an Excalibur. I like it but don't use it much. Too big to run for small batches.

And I bought a mandolin. Don't use it much. The knife is handier and easier to clean.

Hmmm. Would this be one of those $100 hamburgers?

May I ask how you will use your dehydrated squash? Did you season them first?

Cam78, have you done zucchini and or squash before?

I salted and peppered the squash lightly. We snacked on some, some I just put in a jar and guess it will go in soup over winter?
I did a batch of green beans cut in pieces, blanched, then dried. Maybe I over did them. They are kind of brown and really tiny. Really crunchy. I should try now rehydrating a small amount to see how they end up.

I've never done squash.
Fruits, including some fruit leather that took forever and wasn't really worth it, leafy greens, peppers, tomatoes, herbs and candied flowers. Never blanched anything; just washed, drained and peeled where appropriate.
I can't remember the make - will check tomorrow (it's out in the storage shed); probably a good one, because the Old Guy bought it and he's not cheap like me.
If I were to dehydrate squash and zucchini, which I'm considering now, I would shred it and wring it out in a dishtowel before spreading on the tray.

I checked. It's American Harvest (Nesco) 22 years old, used intermittently over that time. I like that you can add or remove trays. It originally came with two but we got two extra. I made some tray liners out of stiff interfacing fabric for delicate items that might crumble. Also mosquito screen.
I also have a manual mandolin, which I don't use very often, because the food processor is faster and less work, but it makes a difference in cucumber salad - even, thin slices - and vegetable marrow, where I like a long skinny strand, rather than little shreds that will go mushy in cooking.
I'll use it if I have enough squash to dehydrate.

Sally that was the first time drying zucchini or any sqaush. I just put salt on before drying. I'll probably add them to pasta they taste a little weird by themselves.

Green bean bits have potential as a snack or salad topping at least, could be seasoned

They were an inch or so, blanched. Crunchy but not too hard.

My first squash chips have lost their crisp crunch. I'm doing more today but will steam blanch and season..

I've got a cosori dehydrator. Works well. A bit on the expensive side (cheaper than the Excalibur though) but no plastic trays was a must for me.

MTy said: I've got a cosori dehydrator. Works well. A bit on the expensive side (cheaper than the Excalibur though) but no plastic trays was a must for me.

I can understand why. I just de-mothballed mine after several years and I notice a bit of plastic fatigue. Still works, though. I dried two trays of mushrooms last night. But will move it to a less inconvenient place: it takes up too much counter space in a small kitchen. And it's loud. Must find that rubber pad.

Another batch of squash chips, lightly sprinkled with an herb mix dry seasoning, the room smelled good as they dried. I carried the dehydrator downstairs where it is much cooler anyway, don't need adding the heat to the kitchen today..

Serpent mentioned Chinese long beans for snacking. The long beans might make good snacks from the dehydrator. Green bean bits are nicely crunchy. The book said cut in one inch pieces so they dry up pretty tiny. But skinny long beans I would dry whole.

Hey, if that works, so might sugar snap peas, which are also good prepared the way I do green beans.

More squash slices, and strips of peppers. Peppers strips will be threads by the time they're done they said cut in 1/4 inch strips but mine were a little wider. One big bell, and some jalapeno.